An Assessment of the Evolution of Executive Functions

Year 2024, Volume: 16 Issue: 3, 517 - 531, 30.09.2024

Filiz Sayar

https://doi.org/10.18863/pgy.1350386

Abstract

Cognitive evolution, as the core subject of fields like paleoanthropology, cognitive archeology, and neuropsychology, has begun to gain more interest in psychology in recent years. Executive functions are viewed from the perspective of cognitive evolution as basic advancements that are crucial to the evolution of language and contemporary cognition. As a metaphor, executive functions refer to advanced cognitive processes (working memory, inhibition, organization, cognitive flexibility, etc.) in the context of complex goal-directed behaviors. Sophisticated cognitive traits like executive functions emerged because of solutions to adaptive issues (survival, reproduction, and social group life) that human ancestors confronted over millions of years and passed them on to their offspring. Although it is accepted that Homo sapiens owes its evolutionary success to Paleolithic living conditions, explaining this process has not always been easy. In this review article, general information about executive functions is presented, followed by a review of scientific explanations about the evolution of executive functions. Evaluations have shown that these alternative scientific explanations based on archaeological, anthropological, and neuropsychological evidence for the evolutionary origins of executive functions do not fit all the pieces of the puzzle. It is believed that novel research models will clarify which of these alternative explanations are proximate causes and which are ultimate causes.

Keywords

Executive functions, cognitive evolution, evolutionary psychology

Yürütücü İşlevlerin Evrimi Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

Abstract

Bilişsel evrim, paleoantropoloji, bilişsel arkeoloji ve nöropsikoloji gibi disiplinlerin kalbindeki bir araştırma alanı olarak, son yıllarda psikolojide daha çok ilgi görmeye başlamıştır. Bilişsel evrim açısından bakıldığında, yürütücü işlevlerin dilin ve modern düşüncenin gelişiminde önemli rol oynayan temel kazanımlar olduğu düşünülmektedir. Bir metafor olarak yürütücü işlevler, hedefe yönelik karmaşık davranışlar bağlamında ileri seviyedeki bilişsel süreçleri (çalışma belleği, inhibisyon, organizasyon, bilişsel esneklik vs.) ifade etmektedir. İnsan atalarının milyonlarca yıl boyunca karşılaştıkları uyum sorunlarının (hayatta kalma, üreme ve sosyal gruplarda yaşama) çözümü ve bunların sonraki kuşaklara aktarılması yürütücü işlevler gibi sofistike bilişsel özelliklerin ortaya çıkmasına neden olmuştur. Homo sapiens’in evrimsel başarısını Paleolitik çağdaki yaşam koşullarına borçlu olduğu kabul edilse de bu süreci açıklamak her zaman kolay olmamıştır. Bu bağlamda, bu derleme makalede, yürütücü işlevler hakkında genel bilgiler sunulduktan sonra yürütücü işlevlerin evrim süreciyle ilgili ileri sürülmüş bilimsel açıklamalar gözden geçirilmektedir. Değerlendirmeler, yürütücü işlevlerin evrimsel kökenine ilişkin arkeolojik, antropolojik ve nöropsikolojik kanıtlara dayanan bu alternatif bilimsel açıklamaların yapbozun tüm parçalarını tamamlayamadığını göstermiştir. Yeni araştırma modellerinin bu alternatif açıklamalardan hangilerinin yakın neden (proximate), hangisinin asıl neden (ultimate) olduğunu netleştireceğine inanılmaktadır.

Keywords

Yürütücü işlevler, Bilişsel evrim, Evrimsel psikoloji

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